I Turn to You
by DFM
Summary: What if their moms had been best friends? What if they had had grownup together? What would be different? First story in the Growing Up Series
1. What Happened?

Title: I Turn to You

Author: Devin

Summary: What if their moms had been best 

friends? What if they had had grown-up 

together? What would be different?

Spoilers: Anything from Season 1-9 is up 

for grabs but nothing major.

Category: MSR, AU, Pre-XF

URL: 

Feedback: Ummm, sure XphilShip@netscape.net

Disclaimer: CC owns all the main characters 

and it doesn't look like that's going to 

change anytime soon. I'm just a high school 

girl, suing me would do no good.

Note: This is my first fic... be nice

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~When I'm lost in the rain ~ In your eyes I 

know ~ I'll find the light to light my way 

~ When I'm scared, losing ground ~ When my 

world is going crazy ~ You can turn it all 

around and when I'm down you're there ~ 

Pushing me to the top ~ You're always there 

giving me all you've got~

~For a shield from the storm ~ For a friend 

~ For a love to keep me safe and warm ~ I 

turn to you ~ For the strength to be strong 

~ For the will to carry on ~ For everything 

you do ~ For everything that's true ~ I 

turn to you ~ I turn to you~

~When I lose the will to win ~ I just reach 

for you ~ And I can reach the sky the sky 

again ~ I can do anything ~ 'Coz your love 

is so amazing ~ 'Coz your love inspires me 

~ And I can when I need a friend ~ You're 

always on my side ~ Giving me faith, taking 

me through the night~

~For a shield from the storm ~ For a friend 

~ For a love to keep me safe and warm ~ I 

turn to you ~ For the strength to be strong 

~ For the will to carry on ~ For everything 

you do ~ For everything that's true ~ I 

turn to you~

~For the arms to be my shelter ~ Through 

all the rain ~ For truth that will never 

change ~ For someone to lean on ~ For a 

heart I can rely on through anything ~ For 

the one who I can run to~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 1961

Spring Break is one of the best weeks for 

any high school student. Maggie had been 

looking forward to it probably more than 

any other student in her graduating class. 

Her best friend, Teena, who she'd known her 

entire life, was getting her out of 

Chilmark. They had a very simple plan. 

First they were going to meet her 

boyfriend, William Scully, as he comes into 

port and then they were all heading to New 

York, where they would Teena's husband, 

William Mulder. Both Williams and Teena had 

graduated the year before Maggie. William 

S. (Will) had joined the navy as soon as he 

had graduated; William M. (Bill) and Teena 

got married just a month after and in 

January Teena became pregnant. Bill had 

also joined the army and was stationed in 

North Carolina.

Maggie was overly anxious to see Will, and 

not just because since he joined the navy 

they barely got to see each other. In Cuba 

the Bay of Pigs was finally over, and Will 

was finally able to come home. So now Teena 

was driving to the port while Maggie stared 

out the window trying not to think.

"Mags, you already know Will's alright. I 

don't see what you're fretting about."

"You know I get like this whenever he's out 

at sea. I can never relax until I see him 

get off the ship but Teen, this was ten 

times worse. There was a possibility he 

wasn't coming home."

"I know Mags, but soon he'll be off that 

ship and reminding you why you bother 

worrying about him." Teena broke out into 

laughter when she saw Maggie's blush.

"Thank you so much Teen!" Maggie tried to 

look stern but she had to admit that after 

her friend's good-natured teasing she did 

feel better.

The rest of the trip was spent in silence 

but this time it was more comfortable. When 

they finally got there Maggie was glad, and 

not for the first time, that they always 

play music at these things. You could 

ignore the nagging voice in the back of 

your head.

Just as the first chorus of 'Somewhere 

Beyond the Sea' finished Maggie saw Will 

for the first time in months. When he saw 

her, a brilliant smile crossed his face and 

she felt a similar one splitting her own 

cheeks.

"Maggie," was the only word he got out 

before she threw her arms around his neck 

bringing him into a bone-crushing hug.

"I was so afraid... so afraid I would never 

see you again... I..."

"Wait Maggie there's something I have to 

say." he paused looking for the right words 

but then gave up. "I think we should get 

married.

At first Maggie was to shocked to speak, 

when she did find her voice she simply 

answered, "Okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Teena was counting down the minutes until 

they arrived in New York. She loved her 

friends dearly and she was very happy 

Maggie was smiling again but if they made 

one more kissy face at each other she was 

going to scream. A voice in her head said 

'hypocrite' because she knew she is just as 

bad when she is with Bill. However, she 

also knows that Maggie wants to hurt them 

when they do the same thing in front of her 

when she's not with Will.

"Why did Bill want to meet up here? It's a 

long way from North Carolina" Will stopped 

gazing at Maggie long enough to ask Teena. 

His only answer was a shrug of the 

shoulders and a slight grin.

"Teen's always wanted to go to New York," 

Maggie offered with a impish smile on her 

face," I think he's spoiling her before the 

baby comes and she never gets to leave the 

house again!"

"You're such a comfort Mags but speaking of 

babies, we need to get to New York soon, 

this little guy is hungry and these 

sunflower seeds I've been eating aren't 

going to tide him over forever."

"We should be there soon Teena. So, you're 

sure the baby's going to be a boy?" Will 

asked.

"Well, it's just a feeling of course but 

yeah I'm fairly sure that this baby's going 

to be a boy." Teena replied with certainty.

"Teen, you haven't told me what you've come 

up with in the name department. You decide 

on anything yet?" Maggie asked.

Teena glanced at her best friend hoping to 

get a better response from her than she got 

when she first told Bill what she wanted to 

name their child. "Yeah we have decided on 

something. You remember my uncle, the one 

that died a couple years ago?" at Maggie's 

nod she continued, "Well he really filled 

for my dad after he died so I thought I'd 

name the baby after him if it's a boy."

Maggie was nodding until she realized 

something. "Wait a minute. Wasn't your 

uncle's first name Fox? I don't 

understand... did he have a middle name?"

"No he didn't. If we have a boy his name 

will be Fox William Mulder. Fox after my 

uncle and William after his father." Teena 

answered, trying to sound a lot more 

confidant than she actually was.

Hearing her friend's nervousness Maggie 

said with a smile, "That's a wonderful name 

Teen. He'll be a very lucky kid."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 1964

"Maggie, the doctor said that you needed to 

stay in bed for at least the rest of this 

week." Teena scolded as she caught her 

friend about to get out of bed.

"Yeah but the doctor didn't take into 

account twin babies that cry constantly and 

a husband that got called off shore leave. 

I can't ask you to watch them the whole 

week. And you're not just taking care of my 

kids and me but your own child, let me call 

my mom to help you at least!"

"You worry to much Mags. I can handle the 

kids, they're being angels. And don't worry 

about Will; he'll be back before you know 

it. All I want you to think about is 

sleeping, eating, and the baby you're 

carrying."

"Are you sure you can handle B.J. and 

Missy? They're almost to their terrible 

twos. They can be fairly stubborn."

"Hey, I'm your best friend, I think I can 

handle stubbornness. In fact the hardest 

part of my job so far has been not letting 

you get out of bed so that the rest of your 

pregnancy goes by smoothly. Anyway, have 

you thought of any names yet? You think the 

baby's a girl right?"

Maggie nodded in agreement and admiration " 

Yes and nice diversion tactic."

Teena smiled, "I do try. So tell me names? 

Any ideas?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

December 1970

"Fox stop fidgeting! You're going to mess 

up your clothes." Teena told her squirming 

nine-year-old son. He was very 

uncomfortable in the suit and tie she had 

picked out for him.

"Mom why do I have to wear this thing? It's 

just a party. None of the other kids are 

going to be wearing anything like this!" 

Fox complained to his mother, not willing 

to let this injustice go without a fight. 

His sister looked like she was having the 

best time of her life however, the whole 

thing was like a giant game of dress-up to 

her.

"All of the children are going to be 

dressed up, just like the grown-ups. Both 

B.J. and Charlie will be wearing suits just 

like yours." Teena said in an effort to 

placate him.

"They're going? I don't want to go. B.J. 

doesn't like me and Charlie's too little." 

Fox said pouting, " I'm not going to have 

any fun."

"Fox can you please just try to have a good 

time there? Please?" Teena asked kneeling 

down next to him and giving him a wide 

smile.

"Okay mommy," Fox said still a little 

pouty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Dana you have to wear the dress! Look 

Missy already has hers on. You don't want 

to be the only girl not wearing a dress, do 

you? You only have to wear the dress for 

one night I promise." Maggie pleaded with 

her daughter who had no intent of giving in 

anytime soon.

"I don't like it mommy. It's itchy and it's 

pink! I don't want to wear it!" Dana tried 

to reason with her mother as best a six-

year-old could.

"Maggie what's going on?" Will's voice said 

from behind her.

Maggie turned around, looked him in the 

eyes, and with the corners of her lips 

turning up into a smile she said, "Your 

daughter is being very difficult."

"*My* daughter is huh?" he said with a grin 

of his own. "Let me talk to her Maggie. You 

go finish getting Charlie ready." Maggie 

gave him a quick peck on the check and 

whispered something sounding suspiciously 

like "good luck". Will moved over to his 

daughters' bedroom where Dana had tried to 

hide herself from her mother. "Starbuck?" 

He then heard giggling coming from under 

Dana's bed and knew exactly where his 

daughter had hidden. "Maybe I should just 

lay down on this bed and wait until she 

shows up." He then pretended to sit on the 

bed and sure enough Dana ran out from under 

the bed shrieking.

"Ahab you're so mean," she said pouting. 

"Do I have to wear the dress?" Will nodded 

trying to look sorry. "It's pink," she said 

trying one more time to get out of it but 

her dad just nodded. "Okay daddy, I'll wear 

the dress."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Mulder family arrived just minutes 

after the Scully family so they did not 

have to go out in search of each other. As 

the grown-ups greeted each other Fox looked 

at a very uncomfortable Dana fidgeting with 

her dress. "They made you get dressed-up 

too, huh?" he asked sympathetically.

"I tried to get out of it but they wouldn't 

let me." Dana told him and he patted her on 

the back. The grown-ups couldn't help but 

laugh at this exchange.

"You know," Bill said to Will, "Dana is the 

only person Fox ever ends up talking to at 

these things. Should we be worried?"

"Nah, not yet anyway."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'There is to many people here. If I get my 

check pinched one more time I'm going to 

scream,' Dana couldn't help thinking. 'I 

gotta find some place to hide.' She looked 

all over for the perfect hiding place but 

grown-ups surrounded all of the good 

places. Finally she found one place that 

wasn't being guarded, the dessert table. 

She checked to see if anyone was looking 

and quickly crawled under it.

"Ow!" both children said at the same time 

and both rubbed the spot on their heads 

that had just collided with the others.

"Dana, what are you doing here?" Fox asked 

in a strained whisper.

"I hate these things. I don't know anyone 

here and mom and dad were talking to that 

guy that smokes all the time. He creeps me 

out." She couldn't quite suppress the 

shudder of disgust that ran threw her. That 

man was at every party her parents dragged 

her to.

Fox nodded at this; there was something 

about the guy that smoked all the time that 

didn't sit well with either of them. "I 

don't know what it is about him. Sam and 

your brothers and sister seem to like him 

but I think you're right, he's creepy."

"What are you doing here, Fox?"

"Hiding, just like you. What party is this 

anyway? Is it the 'we-missed-Christmas-but-

let's-celebrate-anyway' party, or is it the 

New Years Eve party?"

She laughed, "I'm pretty sure it's the New 

Years party. There's a bowl full of noise 

makers by the door."

"Noise makers? You saw some? Let's go get 

some!" 'This party is about to look up.'

"Yeah I saw some..." She suddenly had that 

'uh-oh-what's-he-getting-me-into' look.

"Come on!" Fox said dragging her out of 

their hiding place.

"We're going to get in trouble aren't we?"

"Probably."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

November 1973

"Fox, Sammie! They're going to be here any 

minute." Thanksgiving was one of the most 

stressful times for Teena. Every other 

year, since their families had moved apart, 

Teena and Maggie had decided to alternate 

who was in charge of Thanksgiving dinner. 

She had sent the kids off to play so that 

they weren't in her hair while she prepared 

the turkey but now they needed to get into 

the living room very quickly. Just as she 

was getting ready to call them again the 

doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Sammie yelled as she ran 

down the stairs. Once she got to the door 

she yanked it open and squealed, "Daddy!" 

Bill lifted his daughter off the ground and 

spun around with her over his shoulder.

"Hey princess. Where is everybody?"

"Mom's in the kitchen and Fox is putting 

away Stretego."

"Haven't you guys gotten tired of that game 

yet?" Bill shook his head in amusement and 

headed to the kitchen. "Hey honey."

Teena gave Bill a quick peck on the check 

before going back to stuffing the turkey. 

Then, not two minutes later, the doorbell 

rang again. This time Bill went and got it. 

"Hello..." The smile that had been on his 

face since he had gotten home quickly 

disappeared at the appearance of Spender 

and was replaced with a look akin to if he 

had eaten a lemon raw. "What do you want? I 

told you never to come here again!"

"Come now Bill," Spender paused only to 

take a drag of his cigarette, "that's no 

way to welcome a friend when he comes to 

visit."

"Friend! You've got to be kidding..." Bill 

broke off from his tirade when he noticed 

that Fox had started coming down the stairs 

only to stop when he heard the argument. 

Casting a glance at his son he said, "Let's 

talk in the study."

They then disappeared into Bill's study. 

Fox walked into the kitchen to talk to his 

mom. "Mom?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"Who is that guy who smokes all the time? 

What does he want with dad?"

Teena went pale and turned to look at Fox. 

"He's here?" Fox just nodded. She cleared 

her thought and said, "Don't worry about it 

honey." Then she left to join them in 

Bill's study. 'Don't worry about. Yeah. 

Sure. Fine. Whatever.' Fox followed his mom 

as quietly as he could so he wasn't 

noticed.

"Bill you have to make a choice!" Spender 

yelled.

"You can't have my baby! Not my baby!" 

Teena was nearly hysterical now.

"Fox or Samantha? You have to choose. We 

all did."

"I won't make that choice. How can anyone 

make that choice? You can't make me 

choose!"

"You have to or we will choose for you."

Bill looked up ready to yell again but saw 

Fox hiding outside and walked past Spender 

and closed the door. Spender took another 

puff of his cigarette and said "Little 

spy."

Just then the bell rang and Bill yelled, 

"Fox get that." He did as he was told and 

went to get the door. There standing on the 

front porch was the Scully family. Many 

hugs and well wishes were exchanged but Fox 

couldn't get that conversation out of his 

mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Couple of Days Later

"Bill, are you sure we can leave them 

alone? After everything that happened with 

Spender?"

"Teena we'll be right next door. Fox! Would 

you come down here for a minute?"

They heard Fox running down the stairs and 

less than a minute later he was in the 

living room slightly panting from the run. 

"Yeah, dad?"

"We're going to go over to the neighbor's 

ok?"

"Sure dad."

"You need to be on babysitting duty though. 

Dana's coming over to spend time with 

Sammie and we need you to watch them both."

"No problem dad. When do you need to go 

over there?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Have you ever played Stratego Dana?" 

Sammie asked her friend.

"No, is it any fun?"

"Oh yeah. You can watch the first game and 

than play the winner."

"Sounds good to me. We're still watching 

the movie right?"

"Sure, mom said we could."

At that moment Fox decided to enter the 

living room and turned on the TV, he then 

turned to the two girls and said, "Okay, 

who am I playing first?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Samantha couldn't believe her brother. "Mom 

said we could watch the movie, buttmunch!"

"We're watching the magician," Fox said 

ignoring his sister's glare and 

contemplating his next move. Samantha just 

rolled her eyes and Dana couldn't help but 

laugh at their bickering.

The mood in the room suddenly changed. It 

was like the life was sucked out of it. A 

warm, white light instantly filled the 

room. All three kids stood up horrified. 

Fox ran to get his dad's gun but then 

everyone and everything in the room was 

paralyzed except for Samantha who screamed, 

"Fox!" just before she disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What do you mean she's gone? How can she 

just be gone? You were supposed to be 

watching her!"

"I'm sorry dad."

"You're sorry? Your sister's gone!"

"I'm sorry dad."

They were interrupted by a knock on the 

door that seemed to echo throughout the 

house. Everyone looked at each other, then 

without a word Teena got up to answer the 

door. There was a mumbled exchange and then 

she returned with two cops right behind 

her. They were both dressed in the standard 

police uniform but one was noticeably older 

with gray hair peaking out from under his 

hat while the other still had some baby fat 

in his cheeks. The younger officer was the 

first to speak. "Sir, ma'am. I'm terribly 

sorry about your daughter but to help us 

find her we're going to need to talk to 

both of the kids." Both nodded and then 

stood up to leave. Fox and Dana watched 

them leave with a mixture of wariness and 

relief.

"They'll be just in the other room kids," 

the older officer informed them. "Now we're 

going to ask you guys a few questions and 

we need you to answer as truthfully as 

possible, ok?" Both nodded while looking at 

the ground. "Why don't we all go sit in the 

dinning room?" he suggested noticing how 

uncomfortable they were with there 

surroundings. Both children nodded again. 

Once they were all seated around the table, 

Dana and Fox across from the two cops, the 

older cop started to talk again. "This is 

officer Daly," he said motioning toward his 

companion, "and I'm lieutenant Johnson. 

Okay now I need to know exactly what 

happened."

Fox and Dana glanced at each other then 

both looked back down at the table. Fox 

sighed and then said, "She was here and 

then she was gone. It was like someone 

stopped time."

Daly and Johnson both looked at Fox with 

poorly hidden expressions of incredulity 

then looked to Dana for her side of the 

story. Dana looked at both cops nervously 

then said, "She was just gone."

"You don't remember anything else?" Officer 

Daly asked and when he got a negative 

response he looked to Fox and said, "We're 

going to go talk to your parents. You two 

stay here." Both cops left the room without 

another word.

Once they were gone Dana looked to Fox and 

asked, "Fox? What happened?"

"I don't know. I don't know."

End (1/8)

5 years later

Nothing was the same anymore. Since 

Samantha had disappeared Fox's parents had 

made an unenthusiastic attempt to keep 

their marriage together but had failed two 

years ago. Fox lived with his mother the 

whole year except for during the summer 

months when he would stay with his dad. It 

made little difference though, no matter 

which parent he was with it never felt like 

a family. After a year the search for 

Samantha had been called off due to the 

lack of evidence. At first Maggie had tried 

to comfort her friend but it resulted in a 

fight that caused them to limit their 

contact to Christmas cards every year.

Fox was now in his junior year in high 

school and couldn't wait to get as far away 

as any college could get him. The tension 

was getting to be too much in both home, 

his dad drank and his mom ignored. One day 

he was doing his homework and heard the 

phone ring. He went down stairs to get it. 

"Hello?"

"Um yeah... is Fox there?"

"Mulder, not Fox. Who's this?"

"This is Dana Scully. I don't know if you 

remember me but..."

"Dana, yeah of course I remember you." He 

heard her sigh with relief.

"Listen, we're in Chilmark visiting my 

grandparents and I need to talk to you 

about... I just need to talk to you."

Mulder was about to make a sarcastic retort 

but the tone of her voice made him change 

his mind. "Yeah, sure. You can come over, 

we're at the same address."

"Your mom won't mind?"

He snorted at that, "I doubt she'll even 

notice."

"Ok, I'll be right over."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ten minutes later Mulder heard a knock on 

the door. He opened the door and saw a much 

different Dana then he remembered. He 

caught himself staring and gave her a 

sheepish look only to see her gawking at 

him. He cleared his throat and said, "Come 

in." She smiled slightly and walked inside. 

He led her to the living room and they both 

sat down on the couch.

Breaking the slightly awkward silence Dana 

said, "Geez, this place is just like I 

remembered it."

"Yeah well the interior decorator hasn't 

figured out the new color scheme he wants 

to try yet." This provoked another small 

smile from Dana. "So... you said you had to 

talk to me."

She looked down at her hands and said, "I 

need to talk to you about that night." This 

stopped Mulder short. He hadn't talked to 

anyone about it since the cops last 

questioned him. Reading his expression Dana 

said, "I know you probably don't want to 

talk about this," Mulder snorted at that 

contestant for the understatement of the 

year award, "but recently I've been having 

these flashbacks to that night. Remembering 

things that can't possibly make sense. And 

I just wondered... if maybe... you had 

remembered something... anything, from that 

night?"

"Wait, you said you started remembering. 

What do you remember?"

"I... I don't know if it's actually 

memories. It doesn't make any sense. It 

sounds like something from Star Trek. It's 

just... so real." He looked at her 

expectantly. She sighed, "Okay, well it 

always starts out with the last thing I 

remembered before everything went blank. 

You two were playing that game... Stratego, 

I think. Then all of a sudden the room was 

filled with this bright light and... this 

sounds so stupid, I'm sorry. I've got to 

go." She jumped up off the couch and 

started walking quickly to the door but was 

stopped by the hand on her arm. She turned 

around to see Mulder looking at her with 

tears in his eyes.

"We all froze when the light entered the 

room. Sammie called out my name and then 

she floated out of the window, and then 

nothing until my parents showed up." Dana 

couldn't hide the stunned look on her face 

as Mulder finished her story word for word.

"How did you...?"

"Know? A couple years ago I started having 

dreams, nightmares really, about that 

night."

"So your saying... that all the things I've 

been remembering... it's all real? That's 

not possible Mulder. It just can't be. I 

remembered time stopping. How can time 

stop?"

"So you're saying that you don't believe 

it, when both of us remember the exact same 

thing. Then what happened that night Dana? 

And why did we both come up with the same 

story if it isn't true?"

Resignedly she sighed, "I don't know 

Mulder."

There was a long pause as they both let 

their conversation sink in. Finally Mulder 

said, "You going to be alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks." She tried to smile but 

didn't quite pull it off. "I better go. I 

told everyone I was just going out for a 

walk. Mom hasn't quite gotten over the..." 

Mulder nodded in understanding, the fight 

had been hard on his mom too. "Anyway, 

we're moving back here during winter 

vacation because my mom wants a home she 

won't have to pack-up in six months. So 

maybe I'll see you at school."

"Sure." He walked her to the door. "If you 

need to talk or anything... you have my 

number."

Not really wanting to leave but knowing 

that she had to she said, "Bye." She went 

to leave and then realized something. She 

took out a pen and wrote her number on a 

piece of paper and handed it to him. "In 

case you need to reach me before we move. 

Bye"

"Bye," he added reluctantly. He waited 

until she was out of sight and then closed 

the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Couple Weeks Later

"Dana! Phone!" Melissa called to her 

younger sister.

"Thanks Missy. Who is it?"

"Some guy named Reynard or something."

Dana looked confused but picked up the 

phone and said, "Hello?"

"It's me," Mulder said.

"Mulder?" Dana asked while looking around 

to see if anyone was near by. "Why 

Reynard?"

"I figured it was a better translation for 

Fox than Zorro," he said with a laugh.

"Well that's true. So was there something 

you wanted to talk about?"

"Nah, I was just bored."

"And you called me, I'm flattered."

"Well, you should be. There are so many 

people I could have chosen to call but I 

chose you," he said sarcastically. Truth be 

told he had been trying to figure out an 

excuse to call for a couple days but had 

finally just given up.

"I'm glad you did," Dana said hesitantly. 

There was another pause where neither could 

figure out what to say but for some reason 

it wasn't awkward. After a while they 

started talking about everything and 

nothing at the same time.

They talked for hours until Dana's mom 

walked in and said, "Dana, who are talking 

to?"

"Umm, Reynard."

Her mom gave her a strange look. "Well you 

have to go to bed pretty soon, you have 

that test tomorrow."

"Okay mom." Maggie gave her a warning look, 

the one that says 'do as I say, young 

lady', and left the room again. "I have to 

go, Mulder. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Sure. Well good night."

"Good night." She waited another couple of 

seconds and then hung up. She went to bed 

with a huge smile on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next Morning

Dana walked into the dining room with the 

same goofy smile she had gone to sleep 

with, a fact that did not go unnoticed by 

her family. The family started their normal 

breakfast conversation but whenever someone 

tried to bring Dana into the conversation 

they had to say her name a dozen times just 

to get her attention. In about the middle 

of breakfast Missy couldn't take it 

anymore, she put down her spoon and said, 

"Dana, can I talk to you for a minute?" 

gesturing toward the living room.

"Yeah, sure Missy."

When they got there Missy turned to her 

younger sister, looking at her curiously. 

"Okay, what gives? You're happier than a 

rooster in a chicken coop." Ignoring her 

sister's eye roll she continued, "Come on. 

You know you're going to tell me."

"Nothing's going on."

"So you're going to tell me that the fact 

that you talked to some boy, that none of 

us have ever heard of, for hours, can't 

stop smiling, and have been totally spacey, 

is perfectly normal?"

"I... I," she sighed in frustration. "Missy 

I don't know what's going on. It's weird. I 

have this constant dull ache in the pit of 

my stomach, my face feels like it's going 

to crack from smiling, and I've become one 

of those girls who draw flowers and hearts 

on everything. I use to make fun of those 

people"

"You're twiterpated."

"Twiterpated?" Dana asked, raising an 

eyebrow at her sisters chose of words.

"Oh come on. Don't you remember Bambi?"

"That movie was traumatizing Missy. I try 

not to remember it."

Missy sighed, "When Bambi grows up and 

returns to the forest it's spring time. He 

runs into Thumper, Flower, and Owl. They 

start talking then all these animals that 

are dopey in love start going by them. 

Bambi, Thumper, and Flower can't understand 

why they're acting so weird and Owl tells 

them it's because they're twiterpated. You, 

my dear sister, are twiterpated."

Dana looked at her sister for a second and 

then started cracking up. "How on earth do 

you remember that stuff? We saw that movie 

once."

"I loved that scene but that's not the 

point. You have to tell me all about this 

guy."

"I'll tell you at lunch okay? I don't want 

mom to hear."

"Okay," Missy said, not really 

understanding her sisters reasons but not 

wanting to push it. She'd find out soon 

anyway.

End (2/8)

A/N: Hey, BelieveTruths and I are currently 

building an MSR Archive. If any of you are 

interested in wanting your fic on our 

archive email me and I will answer any 

questions that you may have regarding this.


	2. First Day of School

Meanwhile

"What's with you?" Megan asked Mulder as he 

walked into math class.

"What?" Mulder asked innocently.

"Well either you have developed a sudden 

love for logarithms, which can't be it 

since they're demon spawn, or you're hiding 

something from me."

"I can't just be having a good day?"

"Fine. If you don't want to tell me I'll 

stop bothering you."

Mulder sighed, 'nothing quite like guilt'. 

"Let's just say I'm looking forward to 

winter break." Megan nodded knowing there 

was more to it but letting it go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christmas Vacation

"Okay what've you got?" Missy asked her 

sister as they began their most sacred of 

traditions, planning an escape route. It's 

not that they didn't love being at home but 

it was very much a military household and 

sometimes they just needed to get out.

"The bottom step creaks not to mention the 

loud click the lock on the front door makes 

when you turn it. The back porch had some 

possibilities but mom and dad's room is on 

that side of the house. What about you?"

"Well the only real option up here is our 

window because the bathroom window doesn't 

even open. Plus there's a tree right 

outside here," she gestured outside their 

window. "The window opens pretty easily."

"Okay so we've got a route but is there 

anyplace to hide emergency supplies?" Dana 

asked her sister.

"I was thinking we could just put them in 

the bushes alongside the house."

"Works for me. Now if you'll excuse me, I 

have a phone call to make." As she watched 

her sister leave Missy was about to comment 

but before she could Dana yelled, "Don't 

say anything."

'Damn sister-psychic link.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christmas

"Meg, I need you to do me a favor."

"Uh oh, that can't be good." Megan said 

teasingly, almost flirtingly.

"I just need you to take this note to this 

address," he handed her two pieces of paper 

indicating each as he spoke of them. "If 

she doesn't answer the door tell them 

you're a friend of Reynard's."

"Okay but only if you tell me why."

"I need to get this note to a girl and I 

can't take it because her parents hate me. 

I tried calling like four times but her 

brother kept picking up."

Megan hid her hurt expression very well, he 

didn't even notice. "Fine. But you owe me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The doorbell rang around noon. Megan had 

considered not taking the letter to this 

Dana person but she figured Mulder would 

know if she didn't. This was so wrong. She 

was the one who had been there for him. She 

listen to him babble about his family and 

whatever else was wrong. Then along comes 

this girl who just takes him away.

When Mulder had given her the letter she 

had gotten maybe three blocks away before 

she opened it. She had been sick as soon as 

she read the letter. It was the sweetest, 

most well written letter she had ever read.

Finally a woman opened the door. "Hello. 

May I help you?"

Megan smiled politely. "Hi, can speak to 

your daughter Dana please?"

"Who are you?" Maggie asked, not wanting to 

be rude but still not willing to let a 

stranger into her house.

"Oh, I'm a friend of Reynard's."

"Ah, come in. Merry Christmas by the way." 

She left Megan in the living room and went 

to go get Dana. Megan walked around looking 

at the few pictures that had been unpacked. 

"Yeesh. They're the Brady Bunch."

"I never really saw myself as Jan but 

okay," a voice from behind her commented. 

"I'm Dana. My mom said Mulder sent you. How 

is he? I've talked to him on the phone 

but..."

"He's fine. He wanted me to give you this." 

She handed her the resealed letter. "Well, 

I should go. Goodbye." She was out the door 

before Dana could respond.

'Weird,' was the only thought she gave to 

it as she went to read her letter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Missy!"

Melissa came running into the room at her 

sister's scream. "What?"

"You have to cover for me tonight. Around 

eight o'clock."

"Sis, we're going to Grandma's tonight and 

then we're going to mass."

"Damn it. We have to think of something."

Melissa thought for a second. "Okay, I've 

got it. It's not perfect but it's all I can 

think of on such short notice."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grandma's House

The plan was ridiculously simple. Dana 

would pretend to have a splitting headache 

and would go lay down in the guest bedroom, 

using the plan they had created for that 

house she would sneak out of the house, 

Melissa would cover for her until 9, and 

around 9 Dana would come back out saying 

that she felt better. Now all they had to 

do was not get caught.

Dana walked over to her mom and put on the 

most pitiful look she could muster. "Mom, 

I'm going to go lay down. My head is 

pounding."

Maggie looked at her with concern but just 

said, "Okay sweetie." The look of concern 

nearly did Dana in, almost. She went into 

the guest room to lie down for 15 minutes, 

just in case someone came in to check on 

her, then got up as quietly as possible and 

went out the window, thankfully the room 

was on the first floor.

She slowly slinked away and as soon as she 

was out of sight of the house she started 

running.

When she got there Mulder was already 

there. They saw each other right away and 

wide smiles spread across their faces.

Megan stood across the street watching the 

interplay between the two and knew she had 

to get rid of this girl.

End (3/8)

First Day of School

The rest of winter vacation went on in a 

similar fashion, phone calls and stolen 

visits. They both managed to meet on New 

Year's Eve and they shared their first kiss 

at midnight. It didn't look like anything 

could ruin how happy they were. Then school 

started.

Dana hated changing schools. Almost none of 

them had the same standards, so it made 

deciding on classes all that much harder. 

And, to top it off, she had planned to meet 

Mulder before school but they had gotten 

there late and she couldn't find him.

When they went to the Dean's office to fill 

out the necessary paperwork the secretary 

had kindly informed them that it was finals 

week. Since the three of them had not been 

in the classes for the last semester there 

was no reason for them to take the finals. 

She had suggested that they fill out the 

paperwork but should not report until next 

week. Their mom would hear nothing of it 

however. The forms for Dana, Melissa, and 

B.J. took so long that it was time for the 

last period of the day when they were 

finished. Maggie left to get Charlie signed 

in at the local Middle School, promising 

she'd be back by the end of their class.

Dana's last class for the day, because of 

the weird schedule, was P.E. When she got 

there everyone was dressed and sitting on 

their role call numbers. The teacher took 

attendance then said, "Okay, you all pass." 

There was a loud applause until an old 

looking teacher with large glasses leaned 

out a window and shouted, "Mike, do you 

mind? My students are taking a test."

"Sorry Amy." He turned back to the class. 

"Get out of here. Shoo." All of the 

students got up to leave, "Dana I need to 

talk to you for a minute."

"Yes sir?"

"Relax kid. It's nothing bad. Did your 

parents give you money for uniforms?"

"Yes sir."

"Would you stop calling me 'sir'? Everybody 

calls me Mike." She nodded so he continued, 

"Now, I want you to go to the P.E. office 

and my T.A. will give you some uniforms and 

a locker. Then both of you can get out of 

here. See you next week."

She nodded goodbye, went to the office he 

had directed her to, and knocked on the 

door.

"It's open," a voice from inside yelled.

She opened the door but didn't see anyone. 

"Hello? Mike told me to..."

Mulder walked out from the back room. "So 

you've met Mike." Before he could say 

anything else she had him in a death-grip 

hug.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see 

you."

He laughed. "I think I got a pretty good 

idea," he teased but hugged her back.

She looked up at him and said, "I need you 

to do me a favor."

"Sure."

"I need you to... sell me some P.E. clothes."

He stifled a smile and motioned her to the 

back room. "They only ever order men's 

sizes so even the smalls are going to be 

big but they'll probably shrink in the 

wash." He handed her the clothes and she 

gave him the money. "Anything else?"

"A locker."

"The things I do for you. One girl's P.E. 

locker coming up." He handed her a card 

with a locker number and combo.

"Thanks. By the way, Mike said we could go 

home."

"Cool. You need a ride?"

"My mom's picking me up after school."

"Okay, how 'bout a tour than?"

"That'd be great." He took her around the 

whole school, walking her through her 

schedule and showing her the short cuts to 

each period. They were almost finished with 

the tour when the bell rang.

Megan spotted Mulder as she exited her 

class. "Come to escort me to my car?" 

Mulder turned around looking confused. It 

was then that she noticed the redhead by 

his side.

"Oh, hi Meg. I forgot you had Ms. Crane 

this period. Dana's got her seventh so I 

was just showing her where it is.

"Hi Megan." Dana said trying to be 

friendly. "I didn't really get to thank you 

for bringing me Mulder's note. So, thanks."

"Oh think nothing of it," she gave her a 

tight-lipped smile. "I should go. Bye."

"I don't think she likes me very much." 

Dana whispered to Mulder.

"Nah, she's just not a people person."

"But she likes you," she said suspiciously.

"Everyone likes me." He gave her a look of 

curiosity and amusement, "You're jealous."

"No I'm not."

"Of course not but in case you ever wanted 

to know, for whatever reason, I have no, 

and never have had, feelings for Megan. 

We're just friends."

"Thank you. Well, my mom's probably 

wondering what happened to me." She kissed 

him goodbye. "Hey, do you want help 

studying tonight?"

He grinned, "Sure."

She kissed him goodbye again and then ran 

towards the front of the school where her 

mom undoubtedly was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When she got there Melissa and B.J. were 

already in the car. She got in and they all 

looked at her curiously. She gave Missy a 

look and Missy smiled knowingly. She then 

turned to her mom. "Hi mom. Where's 

Charlie?"

"I dropped him off at home. It didn't take 

as long to get him registered."

Almost as soon as they pulled out from the 

front of the school Missy and B.J. started 

arguing about whether or not they were 

going to like this change. "Dana, you hate 

changing school's as much as I do. Tell 

Missy that this place is going to suck like 

all the others."

"Sorry B.J., I think I'm going to like it 

here."

The rest of the ride was spent in complete 

silence. They got home and, while the other 

two went inside, Dana stayed behind to talk 

to her mom. "Hey mom?"

"Yeah, sweetie."

"I have a friend who needs help studying 

tonight. Can I go help?"

"Sure. Do you need a ride?"

"No!" she said very quickly.

Her mom looked at her for a minute, judging 

whether or not what Dana obviously wasn't 

telling her was important. "Okay. After 

dinner you can go but I want you home by 

ten."

"Thanks mom. You're the best."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

9:30 pm

She had helped him study for his math test 

for an hour, give or take thirty minutes, 

and then they had just watched TV, made-

out, and talked.

When it got close to ten she said, "I have 

to go soon. My mom will ground me for a 

month if I break curfew."

"Yeah but you can stay for fifteen more 

minutes right?"

"Sure," she said with a tiny smile and 

turned back towards the TV. When the time 

was up she left, turning down his offer for 

a ride even though it was dark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dana was trying to walk home as quickly as 

possible. Since she had left Mulder's she 

had felt like someone was following her. 

She was about three blocks away from home 

when something hard hit the back of her 

head. The last thing she heard before she 

blacked out was, "This is your own fault."

End (4/8)

A/N: Hey, BelieveTruths and I are currently 

building an MSR Archive. If any of you are 

interested in wanting your fic on our 

archive email me and I will answer any 

questions that you may have regarding this.


	3. Hostage Negotiation

11:00

The phone rang loudly through the quiet 

house. "Hello?" Mulder asked sleepily.

"Mulder? This is Melissa Scully. Is Dana 

there?"

It took a second for his sleep deprived 

brain to process what she was asking but 

once it did he was instantly worried. "She 

left here over an hour ago. What's going 

on? She didn't get home?"

"No," the word caught in Melissa's throat. 

"I have to tell mom."

"You'll let me know if you find out 

anything, right?"

"Of course. Mulder?"

"Yeah?"

She hesitated for a moment then said, 

"She's not dead, in a little bit of pain 

but not dead." Then she hung up

Mulder stared at the phone for a minute. 'I 

should have drove her home.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Location Unknown

Dana woke up to the smell of the ocean and 

an ache spreading from the base of her 

skull. At first she thought the slight 

rocking was due to dizziness but she slowly 

began to realize she was on a boat. The gag 

tied around her mouth was making her cheeks 

numb but it was nothing compared to how her 

wrists and ankles felt because of being 

tied up.

"Why good morning, princess."

Dana's eyes snapped open and she tried to 

speak but, because of the gag, her words 

were indistinguishable.

"Now what kind of a welcome is that?" She 

walked to her side and tipped up her chin. 

" Well, since you're not going to be nice I 

might as well go to school and see how 

Mulder greets me." Dana glared at her and 

tears began to run down her face. "Oh, tsk 

tsk princess," she scolded. "Don't cry. 

I'll take good care of him." Megan closed 

the door leaving her alone once again. Dana 

racked her brain trying to think of a way 

out of this nightmare but the gentle 

rocking of the boat quickly put her to 

sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

School

Mulder was looking at his math test but all 

he could think about was what could be 

happening to Dana. As hard as he tried he 

couldn't get the images out of his head. A 

particularly heinous one flashed through 

his mind and he had to run to get to a 

bathroom before his classmates became 

intimately acquainted with his breakfast. 

Once he was done literally spilling his 

guts he just sat there with his head 

leaning against the wall of the stall for 

who knew how long until there was a knock 

on the stall door. "I'm in here."

"I know. Mr. Chu told me I should come and 

talk to you, find out if you're okay." It 

was Mike.

"I can't talk about this right now."

"Oh, come on. Are you sick?"

"No."

"Is it your parents?"

"No."

"I'm not leaving until you tell me. Look 

you wouldn't be in here revisiting your 

food if nothing was wrong," when Mulder 

still didn't say anything he continued, 

"This wouldn't have anything to do with why 

a Melissa Scully called to tell you that 

'the cops are looking for her', would it? I 

assume you know what that means."

Mulder burst out of the stall nearly 

breaking Mike's nose but not really 

noticing. "What? Do I need to call her 

back?"

"I think that would be a good idea," Mike 

answered holding his nose. "Don't worry 

about Mr. Chu. I'll explain to him that you 

had to leave."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Melissa couldn't stop pacing around the 

kitchen. This was a nightmare. When the 

police weren't there implying that Dana had 

run away and that there was something wrong 

with their family her mom was crying and 

her brothers were trying not to. As for 

her, she couldn't go anywhere near their 

room. It was weird even though she knew her 

sister was 'okay'. It was eerily quiet 

throughout the house and that was why she 

jumped when the phone rang. "Hello?"

"Melissa?"

"Yes?"

"This is Mulder. Are the cops still there?'

"Yes."

"Do they know that Dana was with me last 

night? Do they want to talk to me?"

"They know. I made sure no one else did 

though. I told them when they talked to me 

alone. They do want to question you."

"Okay, can you arrange for them to meet me 

at school?"

"I'll try. Call back in ten minutes." She 

hung up the phone and walked to the living 

room where the police were once again 

questioning her mother. "Mom?"

"Yeah, honey?"

"The coffee's done."

"Oh thanks," she turned to the police, 

"excuse me."

Once her mom was out of sight she spoke to 

the police. "He's willing to talk to you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mulder sat on a bench waiting for 10 

minutes to be up. A tap on his shoulder 

made him turn away from staring at his 

watch. Standing behind him, with a huge 

grin on her face was Megan. "Hey stranger."

"Meg, this really isn't a good time."

"I heard about Dana," she said, the smile 

never leaving her face.

"How..."

"You know the rumor mill around here."

"Unfortunately"

She sat down next to him and nudged him in 

the shoulder. "How are you holding up?"

He sighed and turned to look at her. "Not 

to good. I..." before he could continue she 

had him in a lip-lock with her tongue 

halfway down his throat. He broke away 

immediately. "What are you doing?"

"You said you weren't feeling good. I 

thought I'd raise your... spirits."

"Please tell me you're kidding."

"What? I love you. I'd do anything for you"

Mulder put his head in his hands and kept 

shaking it. "No, no, no. My girlfriend is 

missing. Do you have any idea how wrong the 

conversation is?" He looked up at her and 

saw that she still wasn't getting it. 'I 

can't deal with this right now.' "Look, if 

you want to do something for me you'll 

leave me alone."

She walked off in a huff. Under her breath 

she mumbled, "You'll be sorry."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unknown Location

Dana woke up when she heard a door slam 

open. She scooted to sit up as Megan 

stalked towards her. When Megan reached her 

she grabbed her hair and pulled. Dana 

couldn't help the yelp of pain that escaped 

her mouth but wouldn't let this... 

person... see her cry again. "He thinks he 

loves you, you know? Well I'm done with him 

but if he wants you, princess, he's going 

to have to work at it." Dana glared at her 

as she walked around getting ready.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scully Household

Mrs. Scully was the closes to the phone 

when it started ringing. "Yes?"

"Mom?" Dana's voice said over the line.

Maggie's legs turned to jelly at the sound 

of her daughter's voice. "Sweetie? Are you 

okay?"

Before she could answer her mother Megan 

took the phone. "Hello? Who is this?"

"Maggie Scully. Who's this?"

"Uh uh, I'm the one doing the talking here 

but you are not the one I want to talk to. 

Tell Mr. Fox Mulder that if he ever wants 

to see his precious little girlfriend again 

he'll answer the phone when I call back in 

an hour." Then all Maggie heard was a dial 

tone.

Lieutenant Daly walked into the kitchen and 

saw Mrs. Scully's shell-shocked expression. 

"Mrs. Scully? What happened?"

"The... kidnapper just... called. She wants 

to... talk to Fox. She won't speak... to 

anyone else. She'll call back in an hour. 

What does Fox have to do with this?"

He considered just telling her but figured 

he wasn't the person to do it. "You should 

talk to your daughter. I'll go get Fox." He 

left a very puzzled Mrs. Scully sitting at 

the kitchen table.

It only took her a moment to compose 

herself. "Melissa Scully get in here now!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mulder walked tentatively behind Daly 

towards the Scully house. He wasn't sure 

how everyone was going to react to seeing 

him again but that didn't matter. All that 

mattered was that this maniac wanted to 

talk to him and that hopefully he could 

help get Dana out unharmed. Daly knocked on 

the door and they waited. Mrs. Scully was 

the one who answered the door.

"Fox," was all she said before she engulfed 

her in a maternal hug. Mulder was shocked 

at first but found himself hugging her 

back. When she had finished hugging him she 

pulled back and asked, "Why didn't you two 

tell me?"

"We thought... because of what happened 

with you and mom... that..."

"Oh Fox, no. That had nothing to do with 

you kids." Suddenly realizing they were 

still standing outside she said, "Where is 

my head? Come inside." She led them into 

the living room. "I had Melissa just give 

me the rough details I thought if anyone 

should tell me all about your relationship 

it should be you and Da..." Tears began to 

form in her eyes and both guys weren't 

quite sure what to do.

Before they had to figure it out the sound 

of the front door being unlocked resonated 

through the house and William Scully walked 

in. He walked straight to his wife. They 

shared a tight hug and Will gave her a soft 

kiss on the forehead. "I got here as soon 

as I could." He then noticed Mulder and 

Daly sitting on the couch. "Fox?"

"I'll explain later." Maggie whispered to 

him.

"Hello sir." Mulder said to Captain Scully, 

who was still looking confused.

"Hello son." Further conversation was cut 

off however by the phone.

Lieutenant Daly looked at Mulder and said, 

"You should probably answer that."

They all walked to the kitchen where the 

phone continued to ring. Mulder reached for 

the phone with a slightly shaky hand. He 

was unbelievably nervous. It wasn't so much 

what he was going to say, the lieutenant 

had already walked him through that, but 

just the fact that Dana's life could depend 

on this one conversation. "Hello?"

"Well if it isn't good ol' Foxy himself. 

I'm so glad that old chick decided to 

listen to me."

"Megan?" Mulder asked in utter disbelief.

"Oh you remember me, how refreshing. I was 

beginning to think that since the princess 

here had come along you had forgotten that 

I existed."

"Why would you think that I had forgotten 

you?" he asked, trying to keep his voice as 

calm as possible. Daly gave him a thumbs-up 

and slid him a pad of paper that read 'who 

is she'. Mulder wrote back, 'ex-best 

friend'.

"Oh please Foxy. You didn't even recognize 

me the other day."

"So Dana really has nothing to do with 

this. You're angry at me."

"She has everything to do with it. We were 

fine until this little hussy showed up. 

What do you see in her anyway? I mean 

you've known her... what? Three weeks?"

"More like her whole life."

"Wow, now that's commitment. So you must 

love her an awful lot huh?"

Mulder did not want to have this 

conversation so he tried to change the 

subject. "Is she okay?"

"I'm hurt. You think I would harm her 

already? The fun hasn't even started yet 

and we wouldn't want to deprive her of a 

good time now would we?" There was a 

muffled sound in the background but it was 

quickly silenced.

"I want to talk to her."

"Well I don't know if she wants to talk to 

you. What do you think princess? Do you 

want to talk to Foxy?"

There was some rustling noise and then 

silence. For a moment he thought that they 

had lost the line. "Mulder?" Dana saying 

that one word was the most beautiful thing 

Mulder had ever heard.

"Yeah, babe, it's me."

"I'd hurt you if I were there right now. 

Just ask the last boy that called me babe."

He had to laugh at that, despite the dire 

situation. "I believe you." He noticed that 

the grown-ups were looking at him 

questioning. "There are some people very 

worried about you here. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mulder." Of course he didn't 

believe that and she hadn't really expected 

him to.

Before he could tell her that he knew she 

was lying the phone was taken away from her 

again. "Okay you got your two minutes. Now, 

meet us at the dock in fifteen minutes."

End (5/8)

15 Minutes Later

At any other time the similarity of the 

dock to a set of a B-Horror film would have 

been funny. The creaky boards and the fog 

was just part of the spooky atmosphere. 

Daly watched as Mulder paced up and down 

the dock, waiting for Megan to show up. 

'Poor kid,' he thought with a shake of his 

head.

A sound not 8 feet away made both Mulder 

and Daly turn. Standing with Dana in front 

of her and a knife in hand was Megan. Daly 

saw Mulder hesitate and lock eyes with 

Dana. They had a silent conversation that 

some people after twenty years of marriage 

would envy. Megan noticed this and she dug 

the side of the knife a little deeper into 

the underside of Dana's chin causing her to 

inhale sharply, stiffen, and break eye 

contact with Mulder.

"When at a party it's very rude to ignore 

the hostess," Megan pointed out haughtily.

"Sorry, Miss Manners never published the 

rules for this type of situation," Mulder 

replied harshly.

"Listen Foxy, you don't want to make me 

mad. Your little girlfriend won't like it." 

Again she made a threatening motion with 

her knife. Once she determined that he 

wasn't going to continue she went on. "Now, 

as with any good party we're going to play 

a game."

"What kind of game?" Mulder asked 

nervously.

"Well, I'd love to play spin-the-bottle and 

have a s‚ance but we're kind of pressed for 

time. How 'bout just a quick game of Trivia 

Pursuit?"

"If we play you have to play too."

Megan considered her options and then 

nodded in agreement. "Okay, that only seems 

fair." She looked at the two of them for 

agreement but neither felt like 

acknowledging her anymore than necessary. 

"Alright follow slowly. We're going to go 

somewhere where your cop friend can't 

bother us." At Mulder's shocked expression 

she said, "Oh please. It doesn't take a 

genius to figure out that you'd bring a cop 

with you. Even if you'd wanted to come 

alone they wouldn't have let you. But he 

wasn't invited to the party so he doesn't 

get to participate."

'Great,' Daly thought exasperatedly, 'So 

much for the element of surprise. I'll have 

to tail them less closely now. I should 

have just gone into the family business 

like my mother had wanted.' He didn't have 

time to sulk anymore about this unfortunate 

turn of events any further however because 

they started moving away down the dock in 

the direction the two girls had appeared 

from. They all continued awkwardly, Megan 

dragging Dana along, Mulder following as 

closely as Megan would allow and Daly 

following as far back as he could while 

still being able to see them.

Megan finally put an end to the ridiculous 

dance by stopping in front of a boat. Dana 

looked at the boat in disgust; she'd 

thought she'd finally seen the last of this 

place. Mulder noticed her discomfort at 

seeing the boat and started to feel uneasy 

himself. Megan looked around to judge the 

best way for all of them to get on the boat 

without exposing herself to any number of 

police that could be hiding anywhere. 

Finally she decided to walk backwards up 

the ramp while continuing to drag Dana with 

her and to have Mulder follow almost 

immediately.

"Would now be a good time to bring up that 

I get seasick very easily?"

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you 

Foxy." Then they all boarded and headed 

below deck for the room that Megan had kept 

Dana in. When they got there Megan had them 

sit around a table that looked like it 

could be used for a board meeting.

Megan took out the Trivia Pursuit game that 

she had set near by earlier and set up 

while Mulder and Dana looked at her like 

she was crazy. 'She went through all this 

so that we would play a game with her? This 

screams of neglect.' Megan handed Mulder 

the dice and had him role. He did and 

landed on 'Entertainment'. He waited for 

her to pull out a card but she didn't, she 

just looked at him and asked "Favorite 

movie?"

It dawned on both of them at the same time 

what kind of a game she was playing and 

they shared a nervous glance, neither 

liking where this was going. "Umm... Plan 9 

From Outer-space."

"I'm serious." Megan insisted.

"Me too."

Megan rolled her eyes and tossed the dice 

to Dana. "Okay princess it's your turn." 

Dana just looked at her like she was 

completely stupid and then indicated her 

hands that were still tied up and grunted 

because the gag also hadn't been removed.

Annoyed that she had missed something so 

obvious but not willing to loose her cool 

she waved for Mulder to untie her. Mulder 

walked over to Dana slowly so that Megan 

wouldn't freak out. He undid her hands and 

squeezed one to reassure her then freed her 

from her gag, stroking her cheek as he did 

so. She gave him a tiny encouraging smile. 

"Sit back down," Megan yelled, reminding 

them of her presence.

Mulder went back to his seat and Dana 

picked up the dice and rolled. She landed 

on 'Products and Progress'. Megan thought 

about how to manipulate the category. "What 

product do you use to dye your hair?"

Dana glared at her and answered, "I don't 

dye my hair." Megan just shrugged and 

picked up the dice.

They continued like this, asking 'getting 

to know you' questions, until Mulder landed 

on 'History'. Megan looked him straight in 

the eye and asked, "Did you kill your 

sister?"

End (6/8)

A/N: Hey, BelieveTruths and I are currently 

building an MSR Archive. If any of you are 

interested in wanting your fic on our 

archive email me and I will answer any 

questions that you may have regarding this.


	4. Only Child

Mulder sat there stunned, he'd been totally 

blindsided by the question. Dana, however, 

was pissed. She jumped out of her chair 

and, before Megan could react, punched her 

square in the jaw. "That's enough! What do 

you want with us?"

Once she was able to regain her composure 

Megan looked up at Dana but instead of 

answering her question pulled out a gun and 

pointed it at her. She then turned her gaze 

to Mulder, keeping the gun trained on Dana, 

and said, "For you to suffer." She looked 

back towards Dana and glared, "Sit down." 

She did.

They were all back in their original seats, 

Dana sitting a little closer to Mulder than 

she had been before but not enough for 

Megan to notice. Mulder could barely look 

at Megan because of the hatred he felt 

towards her. Any hope that he'd held that 

she would somehow snap out of this crazy 

personality that she had at some point 

adopted had been quickly dashed with that 

one question. With that realization came 

another one.

Megan wasn't going to let them out of here 

alive.

"Answer the question."

"No," he said through gritted teeth, "I did 

not kill my sister." Mulder felt Dana 

squeeze his knee in silent reassurance but 

then she did something else. She place 

something cold and metal in his hand.

It was the knife Megan had been using. 

Since she had pulled out the gun Megan 

hadn't bothered to look for the knife and 

Dana had somehow picked it up without her 

noticing.

Mulder chanced a glance at Dana but she 

refused to meet his eyes, afraid that Megan 

would notice that something was going on.

"Now if we're quite done with the 

interruption..." Megan glared at both of 

them then tossed the dice at Dana, "roll."

She picked up the dice and was about to 

roll when all hell broke loose.

A deafening crack made them all spin around 

as Daly kicked in the door and was quickly 

followed by another man that, if they had 

any time to think about it, must have been 

his partner. Both had their guns drawn and 

had yelled, "Police! Drop the gun!" as soon 

as they came in. Megan, however, had other 

ideas.

"You know I don't really feel like doing 

that but since you insisted on crashing why 

don't you two sit down? You should probably 

set those guns down, though. They could 

interfere with everyone's good time"

They both chose to ignore this generous 

offer. "Why are you doing this? Nobody's 

worth all of this!" Daly's partner pointed 

out harshly.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" 

she screamed, her finger itching to pull 

the trigger.

"I know that you think you love this boy. I 

know that you feel threatened and are 

taking it out on everyone. I also know that 

your mom is sitting at home worrying her 

little heart out."

"Shut up!" Megan screamed.

Two shots rang through the boat and then 

nothing.

End (7/8)

"I want to know where my son is. Right 

now!" Teena Mulder's shouts echoed around 

the emergency floor of the hospital. The 

few people who were there looked up and the 

nurses eyed her warily.

An elderly woman, who resembled Auntie Em, 

was the first to approach her. "Miss, will 

you please sit down and we'll see if we can 

help you?"

"Just tell me where my son is. I get a call 

in the middle of the night saying he's been 

shot and you want me to sit down? I don't 

think so. You can just go to..."

"Teena!" Both women turned around to see 

Maggie and William Scully standing next to 

a shaken Dana. They had all come over when 

they heard Teena's entry and Maggie had 

tried to stop her from saying something she 

might regret but instead gave her a new 

target.

"What are you doing here? Come to point 

out, again, what a bad mother I am for 

losing another one?"

"I never..."

"Mulder's not gone," Dana whispered so low 

that they almost didn't hear it.

Before anyone could reply a detective 

stepped forward and said, "Mrs. Mulder if 

you'll step this way I'll explain 

everything." They walked away and the rest 

went back to pacing a hole in the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Teena walked out a half hour later. She 

walked over to where the others were 

sitting and sat across from Dana. When she 

looked up she said, "You. You're the reason 

my son's lying in a hospital bed."

"Now just a minute Teena," William said but 

she wasn't listening.

"He was trying to protect you. With just a 

knife! He took a bullet for you when that 

girl flipped out after killing the cop! My 

son could be dead." Her voice had gradually 

increased in volume through out her tirade 

and she was now on her feet.

Dana, though slightly thwarted by her 

parent's attempts to stop her, also got to 

her feet. "You think I asked for this? I 

love him. Can you say the same? You don't 

think it's sad that it took him getting 

shot for you to notice that he didn't 

disappear the night Sam did? Do you know 

anything about him anymore? Do you know 

what that night did to him? Hell, did you 

even bother to notice that he's on the 

track, basketball, and baseball team while 

maintaining a 4.0? He does everything to 

get you and Mr. Mulder to notice he's 

alive!" She took a deep breath and realized 

that at some point she had started to cry.

She felt her father's hand on her shoulder 

and leaned back into him. "That's enough 

Starbuck."

Dana turned around in her father's arms and 

hugged him. "Ahab, just tell me he's going 

to make it. Please daddy, I need to know 

he's going to be okay."

Not wanting to make his daughter a promise 

that he possibly couldn't keep Captain 

Scully just tightened his hold on her. 

"Let's take a walk Starbuck."

Teena and Maggie were now left alone to sit 

in an awkward silence until finally a 

doctor showed up. "Mrs. Mulder?" When she 

acknowledged him he went on to explain how 

the surgery went, that Mulder was now 

sleeping in his own room, and that she 

should go get some rest or at least some 

coffee. "Oh and you might want to tell that 

young lady who was here earlier that he's 

okay, she was a nervous wreck."

After another awkward silence, though this 

one held an element of relief, Maggie said, 

"I should go find Dana and Will."

"You should," Teena replied slowly. "You 

should go find them and leave."

"What?" Maggie asked indignantly.

"I don't want any of you, especially your 

daughter, anywhere near my son."

"You can't honestly blame Dana for this!"

"Why? Because her track record is so 

perfect? My daughter vanishes and my son 

gets shot, both while in her presence. That 

girl is bad news and I don't want her 

anywhere near my son. Oh, and don't bother 

sending a Christmas card this year, it'll 

be returned."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dana saw her mother approach them with a 

look of sadness on her face and felt her 

gut clench. "Mom?"

"I'm sorry honey. You're not going to like 

what I have to tell you."

"Mom? He's not..."

When she realized what Dana must have been 

thinking she rushed to reassure her. "No 

no. He's fine. In fact right now he's 

resting in his room."

Dana turned to run to the nurse's station 

to find out the room number but her mom 

caught her arm and turned her back around. 

"Mom, what are you doing? I have to go see 

Mulder."

"You can't."

"What do you mean 'I can't'? You just said 

he's alright. Mom, I need to see him."

"You can't because his mom won't let you," 

Maggie said, purposely not saying Teena's 

name. She watched as several emotions 

passed over Dana's face finally settling on 

anger. With the anger though came a look of 

determination. She turned and again began 

to walk toward the nurse's station. "Dana," 

Maggie called after her. Dana turned, half 

afraid that she was going to stop her but 

all she said was, "Don't get caught."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mulder had no idea where he was and didn't 

particularly want to open his eyes and find 

out. The searing pain in his chest however 

seemed insistent that he come back to 

reality. As all the events of the last 

couple of days came flooding back to him 

his eyes snapped open. This was not good 

because the blaringly white room nearly 

blinded him.

"Oh good, you're awake."

"Mom? What's going on? Where am I? Where's 

Dana?" he asked, figuring if she knew why 

he was in a hospital then she would also 

know about him and Dana, so what was the 

point in hiding it anymore?

"You're in the hospital. Do you remember 

what happened?"

"I remember everything up to being shot but 

after that..."

"You're very lucky Megan's a bad shot, they 

think she was aiming for your heart."

"Doesn't surprise me. Did they get her?"

"Daly was able to apprehend her after she 

shot you and got an ambulance over there as 

quickly as possible. Officer Markson wasn't 

quite as lucky as you. He died before they 

got there. Daly said he'd stop by later to 

thank you for all your help."

After taking a minute to absorb all of this 

he asked the question he really needed the 

answer to. "And Dana?"

His mother's demeanor changed, almost 

imperceptibly, but it changed. She was 

slightly stiffer and had a decidedly fake 

smile on her face. "After we found out you 

were okay I told her to go home."

Mulder let out a sigh of relief and was 

about to ask when she might be coming back 

when a nurse, who looked like it was her 

first year on the job, came bustling in. 

"Mrs. Mulder, would you step outside for a 

moment please? I have to check a few things 

with the patient." As she began to do a 

battery of tests she talked about all the 

inane things that would have put him to 

sleep in different circumstances. "Oh, do 

you know a Dana?"

Mulder's attention snapped back to the 

nurse. "Yes," he said warily.

"Well she told me to give you this note, 

specifically not when your mother was in 

the room. Well you seem to be alright for 

now. I'll let you get some sleep."

"Thanks," he mumbled looking only at the 

note in his hand.

Dear Mulder,

I hope you get this note. I wasn't 

sure how else to get it to you. I'm so 

sorry I wasn't there to make sure for 

myself that you are okay but your mom's 

this close to getting a restraining order 

on me as it is. I'll try and get into see 

you at some point. The nurse who gave this 

to you told me that she'd tell me if your 

mom has a routine for visits or not. If not 

I'll see you when you get back to school. 

Feel better.

Love,

Dana

Mulder read and reread the letter. 'Mom 

stopped Dana from visiting me? That doesn't 

make sense, does it? She wouldn't have 

written the note if she hadn't. What the 

hell is mom doing?'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a knock on the door and Mulder 

and Teena looked up to see Bill Mulder 

standing nervously in the doorway. Teena 

glared at him. "This isn't a bar and he's 

already in the hospital so what do you 

want?"

Bill chose to ignore this and said, "Hi 

son."

"Hey dad. How'd you find out I was here?"

"The hospital called me. They told me what 

happened so I thought I should come pay you 

a visit." Mulder had to smile at this; it 

was possibly the first fatherly thing he'd 

done sine Sam had disappeared. Teena, 

however, was still glaring at him. "So have 

you been up to? You don't call, you don't 

write. How am I suppose to know what's 

going on with you?"

The smile fell off Mulder's face when he 

said this. "Dad, you told me last time I 

called to stop calling." Awkward silence 

once again reigned supreme. 'How'd we get 

like this?'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ugh, Missy how did this happen?" Dana 

asked her sister as she paced around their 

room. "I was so happy! Then some maniac 

kidnaps me and now I'm not allowed to see 

my own boyfriend. And if one more person 

looks at me like I'm going to snap I will."

"Sis, do something for me."

"What?"

"Breathe." Dana laughed in surprise and 

took an exaggeratedly long deep breath. 

"Good now repeat after me: 'screw them'."

"'Screw them.' Thanks Missy."

"No problem. Don't worry about seeing your 

beau either. You handled the situation just 

fine. You'll see him in a couple days."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Couple Days Later

Dana had just walked in the door after her 

first day back at school, where people were 

either staring fixedly at her or avoiding 

her like the plague, when the phone rang. 

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Nurse Bishop from the 

hospital. We have a slight problem. Both 

his parents are here and they come at 

separate times and his father's visits are 

erratic. I'm going to have to sneak you in 

after visiting hours."

"How are we going to do that?"

"I've got it all figured out. You're going 

to pose as my little sister who wants to be 

a doctor so I'm showing you how a hospital 

runs. My shift starts in an hour and a half 

so can you be ready in an hour?"

"Absolutely. Thank you so much." They hung 

up and Dana felt better than she had all 

day. "Mom, I'm going to the hospital 

tonight," she called up the stairs.

"How are you getting there?" her mom called 

back.

"A nurse from the hospital is giving me a 

ride."

"Okay, I want to meet her when she gets 

here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'll come get you when I finish my rounds, 

okay?" Bishop asked once they had reached 

Mulder's room. Dana nodded and was left 

alone in the hallway.

When she entered the room her eyes went 

directly to the figure in the generic 

hospital bed that seemed to be asleep. "Mr. 

Insomniac, I'm not buying it."

"Hey lady, I'm trying to sleep here," was 

Mulder's amused reply as he sat up.

"Oh so sorry. I'll just leave then."

"Get over here babe." Dana raised an 

eyebrow at him but walked over and sat 

beside him on the bed.

Not knowing what else to talk about she 

just started talking about her day. "School 

was awful without you today. I don't think 

a day has ever gone by so slowly. I'm 

becoming known as the person that made 

Megan go off the deep end. None of them 

knew me so they're not bothering to ask me 

my side of the story, I think they're 

waiting for you to get back so they can get 

their stories straight. I tried to sit with 

Missy and her friends at lunch but all of 

her friends got up the minute I sat down."

A sad look appeared on his face. "I'm 

sorry, you shouldn't have to deal with that 

stuff."

"Hey don't worry about it. It's not your 

fault. Anyway how was your day? Did you get 

green or orange jello?" Mulder leaned over 

and kissed her thoroughly. When they pulled 

back to breathe she said, "Orange." He 

smiled and leaned in to kiss her again.

They stayed like that for at least twenty 

minutes before Nurse Bishop came back. 

"Dana, we got to go, I gave you as much 

time as I could."

"Okay, I'll be out in a sec." The nurse 

gave her a warning look and left. "Anything 

you want me to sneak in next time I come 

by? Sunflower seeds?"

"Aah a women after my own heart."

"You better believe it," she said with a 

mock sexy look. "I gotta go," and after 

giving him a peck on the forehead she left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So that became their nightly pattern. Dana 

would show up after visiting hours, still 

posing as the nurse's sister, and they 

would just hang out for half an hour. When 

their time was up Dana would go and help 

the nurses until the end of their shifts 

and Mulder would do the homework his 

teachers kept sending, junior year is not a 

good time to be out of school.

Everything went smoothly until the night 

before Mulder was going to be released. 

Dana was telling Mulder about the job the 

hospital had offered her for the summer 

when there was a knock on the door. Mulder 

called out for the person to come in but 

both froze like deer caught in headlights 

when they saw who it was.

Mulder's father stood, equally frozen in 

the doorway. Once he got his bearings he 

just said, "Hello Fox, Dana."

"Hi dad."

"Hello sir."

Bill cast around for something else to say 

and to cover this he moved to sit down in 

the chair near the bed. As if just 

realizing their close proximity Dana 

started to get off the bed but Mulder 

tightened his arm around her waist and 

stilled her movement. "Dad, what are you 

doing here? It's after visiting hours."

"Apparently not for you." They exchanged an 

uncomfortable look and then looked back at 

Bill as he continued. "I was under the 

impression that you two weren't allowed to 

see each other anymore." He threw a look at 

Dana and said, "Teena's almost as mad at 

you as she is with me. She'd be very upset 

if she saw you here. So why'd you do it 

son?"

Dana made an indignant sound. "Excuse me? 

Are you implying that he forced me to come 

here? Because if you are..." but she didn't 

finish the sentence.

Mulder had grabbed her hand, which had 

clenched with anger, and with an almost 

invisible shake of his head she broke off. 

"Dana, I have to talk to my dad." He gave 

her an imploring look, hoping that she 

would understand.

She gave him a little smile and said, 

"Okay. I'll see you later?"

"I'll call you when I get cut loose from 

this place."

"Bye," she whispered and then she turned to 

his father and said, "Goodbye sir," with a 

tight little smile.

Both watched her leave and then turned back 

to each other. "I always told Will you two 

would end up together. You seemed to 

gravitate towards each other, even when you 

were little."

"Dad, why are you here?"

"I came to say goodbye. Since you're going 

home tomorrow I figured it'd be safe to go 

back."

"No dad I mean why are you *here*? Why now? 

You haven't given a damn for 5 years. This 

is the longest I've seen you sober in 

awhile. So just tell me why you're here!"

"You almost died," he said this so softly 

that Mulder almost didn't hear it. "Why did 

you think I was here? Why do you think your 

mother got so protective all of a sudden? 

Did you think I was here just to torture 

your mom? You could've died and we did 

nothing." Mulder was once again shocked 

into silence. "I'll see you in June," and 

his father was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mom I'm not an invalid! I can walk up the 

stairs," Mulder protested as his mother 

continued to hover. They hadn't even made 

it to the porch steps without fighting over 

whether or not he was strong enough to make 

it up them by himself. "Mom I have to make 

a phone call, okay? I need just a couple of 

minutes."

She looked at him suspiciously and asked 

who he was calling. He shrugged, not having 

the energy to lie to her and told her. The 

truth, however, made his mother furious. "I 

thought I told you that you couldn't see 

her anymore?"

'I'm not. I'm calling her,' but he wisely 

chose not to say this. "You did," he said 

with a nod.

"And you're going to do it anyway?"

"Mom, if you asked for anything else I 

would listen to you but not this. I just 

don't get it."

"That girl..."

"I love 'that girl' and you used to too. 

She was Sam's best friend, my best friend. 

Why blame her?"

"You jumped in front of a bullet for her. 

Why shouldn't I blame her?"

"She didn't fire it."

"You're too close," and apparently this was 

the end of the conversation because she 

stormed out of the room.

'Round one complete, both fighters return 

to their corners,' Mulder thought 

exasperatedly and went to make his phone 

call.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday Morning

Walking into school after a couple weeks 

away was possibly the weirdest experience 

of his life. So many people were staring at 

him and it was driving him crazy. A group 

of girls kept walking past him each telling 

one another to go ask him a question, not 

one of them had.

"Oh boys, look who's back, Spooky himself," 

a loud obnoxious voice said from behind 

him.

Mulder was about to make a crass comment 

when another voice said, "Don't you guys 

have some class you're suppose to be 

skipping?"

"Well, well Mrs. Spooky. You must be glad 

that he's back. The way I hear it one date 

with you and he ends up in a hospital. Tsk, 

tsk, tsk."

"Jealous?" was Mulder's only reply as he 

put a hand on the small of Dana's back and 

led her away from the crowd that had formed 

in preparation for a fight.

Once out of range of prying ears she 

whispered to him, "I have to talk to you 

after school. Meet me at my locker."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the end of the day Dana was extremely 

nervous. She didn't really want to ask him 

this favor but there was no one else. She 

was not looking forward to seeing the look 

on his face. She had purposefully avoided 

him during lunch and knew he was going to 

be mad about that.

As she approached her locker she could see 

him already standing there. She took a deep 

breath and walked over to him.

Before he could say anything she jumped 

right in and said, "I need you to do me a 

favor."

"Oka-ay."

She took another deep breath and said, "I 

need you to take me to the state psyche-

ward."

"What?" he asked completely confused now.

"They called me and told me that... Megan 

wants to talk to me."

So many emotions flashed over Mulder's face 

that she almost didn't catch them all. "Did 

they also say that you could check yourself 

in once you got there because you must be 

crazy. After everything she did to us 

you're going to give her more of our time?

"Mulder I need closure on this and I 

wouldn't put you through this if there was 

anyone else but there isn't," she said 

pleadingly.

"Okay," he said resignedly, "I'll take you 

but I have a bad feeling about this."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I'll be right outside the door if you need 

me," was the guard's less than comforting 

words as he shut the door behind him. The 

room was very plain with it's white walls 

and beds with white sheets. The teenage 

girl sitting on the bed would have been 

invisible, mostly due to her hospital gown, 

if not for her mossy brown hair. The 

expression on her face went well with the 

room, blank.

Dana stepped forward, not sure if Megan had 

seen her. "Megan?" The only response this 

garnered however was for the blank stare to 

turn towards her. Disconcerted she 

continued, "You wanted to talk to me?"

A light of understanding filled her eyes 

then and some color went back into them. 

"I'm sorry," was all she said in a voice 

that was so raspy that Dana barely 

understood it. Megan stood up and turned 

her back on Dana so that she thought this 

was her cue to leave until she heard 

another raspy statement. "Wait." When she 

turned around Megan put something in her 

hand.

A face smiled up at her from the picture, 

one that she would know anywhere. Mulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the way his mother was pacing you would 

think that it was midnight by the time 

Mulder got home not a quarter after six. 

Mulder tried to just walk past her up to 

his room but her angry voice called up 

after him, "Fox William Mulder get down 

here this instant," in typical mother 

fashion.

'I do not want to deal with this right 

now,' he thought as he trudged down the 

stairs. "What?"

"Where have you been? I told you to be home 

for dinner."

"No you didn't."

"You're always supposed to be home for 

dinner!"

"Okay mom, could you repost the rules 

because there seem to be a lot springing up 

that I'm not familiar with."

Choosing to ignore this statement 

completely, though it looked like it was 

difficult, she continued on her warpath. 

"Where were you?"

"Is there any answer I could give that 

won't result in a fight?" Mulder asked 

starting to get angry himself.

"Were you volunteering to help needy 

children?"

"No."

"Then you should have been home for 

dinner." They glared at each other, neither 

wanting to look away first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You got a brochure from where?" Dana 

couldn't hide the shock in her voice as she 

asked this. Of all the colleges she thought 

he would be interested in this was not one 

of them.

"Oxford."

"As in England?"

"Yes as in England," he said in an 

exasperated 'come on now' sort of way.

"Wow. You think you want to go there?" the 

forced cheerfulness in her voice was 

painfully obvious.

"Well..." He stopped and tried to figure 

out how to phrase this. "If you had asked 

me 6 months ago I would have told you it 

was perfect. I was really only looking for 

one thing in a school, distance. But 

now..."

Dana took a deep breath and then said into 

the phone, "Mulder, I can't be the reason 

you stay, I couldn't take that. We did the 

long distance thing for a while, we can do 

it again. If you need to get as far away 

from home as possible then you need to 

apply to those colleges. I get that."

"Okay, babe. I'll leave you here alone in 

Dullsville with only my mother for 

company," he said in a very put upon voice.

"Shut up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summer came far too quickly; something 

neither of them knew was possible. Summer 

meant being split up and not being able to 

see much of each other until school started 

back up and Mulder was a senior and Dana a 

sophomore.

Mulder went to spend another summer, three 

long months, with his father and his 

drinking. He couldn't wait for September.

The End

Note: Okay, I've already got the sequel in 

the works, oh don't groan, that'll be 

coming out soon. Thanks for reading this 

:).

A/N: Hey, BelieveTruths and I are currently 

building an MSR Archive. If any of you are 

interested in wanting your fic on our 

archive email me and I will answer any 

questions that you may have regarding this.


End file.
